How American Christianity Grooms People To Embrace Fascism

There’s an old saying: If you want to know what people really believe, watch what they do, not what they say. And if you’ve been paying attention to American conservative Christianity, what they do is follow leaders with cult-like devotion, silence dissent, and demand an unquestioning loyalty that looks a lot like authoritarianism in Sunday best. In fact, it doesn’t just look like it—it is authoritarianism, wrapped in scripture and sold as discipleship.

The reality is, the American church has been grooming people for fascism for generations. Not by accident. Not because of ignorance. But because the structure of fundamentalist Christianity makes it easy—natural, even—to accept and crave authoritarian control. By the time a MAGA pastor is ranting about taking back America for Jesus, his congregation isn’t shocked. They’re nodding along, fully prepared to trade their personal agency for the security of someone telling them what to do.

How does it happen? It’s not a sudden thing. It’s a slow, methodical grooming process. One that starts early and leaves people unable—or unwilling—to think for themselves.

Step 1: “God’s Ways Are Higher Than Your Ways”

The first lesson you learn in fundamentalist Christianity is that your own thoughts are trash. Your heart is deceitful. Your wisdom is foolishness. You can’t trust yourself, but you can trust the Bible (by which they mean their interpretation of it). From childhood, you’re told that independent thought is dangerous—better to surrender and let someone holier than you make the calls.

Step 2: “Obedience is Holiness”

Doubt isn’t curiosity; it’s rebellion. Asking questions means you don’t have enough faith. The best Christian isn’t the smartest—it’s the most obedient. And what’s the easiest way to be obedient? Shut up, fall in line, and do what you’re told.

Step 3: “Questioning is Dangerous”

You don’t just accept the rules—you learn to fear questioning them. Reading the wrong books, listening to the wrong people, even just wondering why things don’t add up—it’s all framed as a slippery slope to hell. Critical thinking becomes an existential threat, and before long, you’re self-policing your own thoughts. Who needs Big Brother when you have evangelical guilt keeping you in check?

Step 4: “Authority is God-Ordained”

If someone is in charge, God must have put them there. Parents, pastors, presidents—it doesn’t matter if they’re corrupt, cruel, or criminal. They’re in power, and questioning them means questioning God. That’s how you get entire churches telling people to obey tyrants because Romans 13 says so. It’s also how you end up with Christians worshiping a thrice-indicted con man like he’s the second coming of King David.

Step 5: “You Need an Enemy”

Control only works if there’s an external threat, so you learn early that the world is full of them. Gays, feminists, immigrants, liberals, scientists, secularists—there’s always an enemy trying to corrupt you, destroy your faith, or take away your “Christian nation.” Fear keeps you compliant. Fear keeps you loyal. And when a leader comes along promising to crush the enemy and restore your sense of power? You’re all in.

Step 6: “God’s Champion Will Save Us”

Enter the strongman. He’s brash, crude, and doesn’t play by the rules, but that’s okay—he’s fighting for you. He’s your Cyrus, your David, your warrior king. He doesn’t need to be moral or even competent. He just needs to win. And since you’ve been trained to equate obedience with faith, you follow him. Even when he contradicts everything you claim to believe. Even when he turns religion into a battering ram for power.

By the time people are chanting “Let’s go, Brandon” in the same breath as “Jesus is Lord,” the conditioning is complete. They don’t just accept authoritarianism. They desire it. They need it. Because they’ve been groomed to believe that thinking for themselves is dangerous, and blind obedience is godly.

Breaking the Cycle

The good news? People can unlearn this. The bad news? It’s hard as hell. Walking away from authoritarian Christianity isn’t just about rejecting bad theology—it’s about learning to trust yourself again. To believe that your thoughts matter. That questions aren’t rebellion. That morality isn’t just obeying the loudest man in the room.

But for those still stuck in the cycle, the path forward is clear: Another strongman will come. Another “moral crisis” will be invented. Another generation will be told that submission is holiness. And until people learn to reclaim their agency, conservative Christianity will keep delivering willing disciples—ripe for the taking—to the next fascist who promises them power.